Alexander went to his penthouse to spend the night to get a grip on his mind. He had nurtured dreams about Rotterdams after promising his mentor on his deathbed. He would never have broken his promise and deserted Rotterdams unless pushed to the edge. Now, he needed some space to get a grip on himself after Beatrix’s careless plans shattered his dreams forever. However, after an hour, the doorbell rang and a fiercely angry Beatrix appeared at his doorstep.
“What are you doing here, Beatrix? In your condition, you should rest at home.”
She barged her way inside, refusing to be discouraged that easily. “I won’t accept your decision to break off the wedding, Alexander. My baby needs a name and you have to marry me.”
“I can’t marry you after the way you backstabbed me. I have resigned from Rotterdams. Now I have no wish to associate with you anymore.” Alexander stood with a grim expression on his face, unmoved by her pleas.
“Then what do I do with this baby? The wedding preparations are on the way. The date has been fixed, and we have issued the invitations, too. How can you back out now with only a month remaining to the wedding?” she cried hysterically.
“Marry someone else! Do whatever you want! I really don’t care. You have destroyed your own fate by your recklessness.”
“You pushed me towards it, Alexander,” she accused, her eyes glittering with anger.
“I did no such thing. You have slept with Fairfield. Did that provoke me to plot and plan against you?” asked Alexander calmly while Beatrix flailed her arms around helplessly.
“Everyone has different ways of expressing their frustrations. Don’t forget that I’m undergoing a lot of hormonal imbalance because of this pregnancy. It’s making me behave irrationally,” said Beatrix, but Alexander refused to accept her explanation.
“Under the circumstances, you should rest at home. So much stress isn’t good for you and your baby. As for me, it’s useless to discuss this with me. I won’t agree to marry you under any circumstances. You’re wasting your time. I would suggest you clear your differences with the father of your child. Maybe after getting divorced, he will agree to marry you.” Tears of helplessness sprang from her eyes, but they didn’t affect him in any way.
“Do you think I haven’t tried with Sean? Why would he marry me when he has a bunch of women willing to die for him? He doesn’t accept my calls, and his bodyguards don’t allow me inside his mansion. He has basically blocked me out of his life on purpose.”
“Then forget him and go ahead with the pregnancy all on your own. I refuse to budge from my decision. Marry Cromwell, since you both are so attached to one another. I really don’t care.” Beatrix gave him a look of hatred, realizing that her words were having no effect on him.
“You don’t have the right to dictate who I should marry. You know what? I hate you for insulting me always. Don’t think you can get away so easily and marry that bitch. You have destroyed my life with your arrogance, and forced me to seek attention elsewhere just to make you jealous. All my life I craved your love, and your attention, and I’m paying the price for it all alone. If you had loved me, Alexander, I would never have hooked up with Sean. I don’t know what true love is because neither you nor Sean have ever loved me that way. You are responsible for my condition today.” Alexander gaped at her outburst with surprise, but before he could utter a word, Beatrix continued hysterically.
“I will take my revenge on you. I won’t let you unite with Eva and marry her. If I see you anywhere near her, I will pay millions to a hitman and wipe her out from the face of the earth. I will destroy you in the same way you have destroyed me. Don’t take this as an idle threat. I will hire people to stalk you 24/7 and report to me constantly. Mark my words, Alexander.” She stormed out of his apartment, leaving him gaping after her. He knew she never gave out idle threats. With her twisted evil mind, it wasn’t beyond her to harm Eva. He trudged towards his bedroom, but he couldn’t get a wink of sleep as Beatrix’s threat echoed in his head.
The next morning, he searched for his phone everywhere but couldn’t find it. Had he left it at his parents’ house? Quickly freshening up, he drove over to his parents’ house.
“I haven’t seen your phone. If you had left it behind, it would have been here,” said his mom, searching for his phone nevertheless.
“When did Beatrix leave last night?” he asked, suspecting her involvement in its disappearance.
“Right after you did. Do you think she has it? We retired to our bedroom immediately after you left.” Alexander nodded at the possibility, but the thought made him restless. There was no way he could trust Beatrix with his phone. She wouldn’t refrain from hiring professional help to break through the password and unlock his phone.
“I need to lodge an FIR immediately, mom. I’ll see you later,” he said, striding towards the door.
“Stop, Alexander! It’s good that you came over. Sit down, we need to talk,” ordered his dad, coming into the room, and stopping Alexander in his tracks.
“Dad, can we have this talk later? I need to go to the police station to lodge an FIR on my missing phone.”
“You can go after we talk.” Alexander knew what this was all about. After last night’s admission, this topic was bound to come up.
“Alright. Tell me what you have to say,” he said, sitting down and waiting patiently for them to threaten him to stay away from Eva.
“After your little speech last night, your mom and I have been feeling quite disturbed. Knowing Eva’s family, how could you keep any association with her? Women like her can sleep with anyone for money. She knows it’s her only way to get rich and lead a luxurious life. How could you be so gullible and fall into her trap?” demanded his dad angrily, making Alexander suck in a deep breath to keep calm. He couldn’t explode, knowing it would make matters worse.
“Eva isn’t that way at all, dad. You don’t know her because you haven’t ever spoken to her. She never pursued me. It’s always been the other way around. Her feelings for me are unconditional, natural, deep, and eternal. Please don’t judge her without knowing her. She means the world to me and I want you both to accept her into our family for my sake. Please mom, dad!” Alexander pleaded, the desperation clearclear in his tone but Daniel Van Every didn’t notice it in his rage.
“That can never happen, Alexander. If you marry that woman, you would have to break all ties with us. This is my final decision. We will never accept her as part of the Van Every family. The choice is yours,” said his dad, standing up with finality in his tone.
“Mom, please!” His mom gave him a forlorn and helpless look, but stood by her husband’s decision.
“You heard your dad, Alexander. My decision is the same as his.” Alexander sighed, looking at the grim look on their faces. There was nothing he could do to change their mind. He turned and walked out of his childhood home with his shoulders sagging with dismay. It seemed the entire world was against his relationship with Eva. After Beatrix’s threat, he was disturbed, but now he felt shattered. It was impossible to choose between his parents and Eva. He loved them both!
He drove over to the police station and lodged an FIR, stating his suspicions about Beatrix’s involvement in it.
“We will pay a visit to Ms. Rotterdam and get your phone from her custody,” promised the officer. Alexander thanked him and drove over to the office to help Mr. Strasbourg with the transition, as promised. The whole day, he was worried about his phone. The officer had called back to update him, that Beatrix did not have it in her possession. They were tracking the phone and would update him later. Alexander knew Beatrix was lying. He drove over to the police station to take an update.
“We have tracked your phone, Mr. Van Every, but it hasn’t been switched on for the last five hours. It was tracked last in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area in Brooklyn. We have sent two officers there to inquire.” Alexander thanked the officer and left, wondering how his phone had reached there.
He drove over to Beatrix’s house, since she was the only one who could answer his queries. An attendant opened the door for him and requested him to wait in the grand reception room. Alexander paced the floor impatiently when he heard Beatrix’s voice echoing as she walked out to meet him. He turned to see her busy talking on the phone.
“Yes, stalk the woman whose picture I forwarded to you. Be ready for my next instruction. You will need to be equipped to kill her anytime,” said Beatrix, holding Alexander’s gaze with hatred.